Go with native Pocono plants in your garden

As spring approaches, gardeners turn their thoughts to what they'll grow this year. They're deciding not only what to plant in the vegetable garden, but what will improve the yard.

As spring approaches, gardeners turn their thoughts to what they'll grow this year. They're deciding not only what to plant in the vegetable garden, but what will improve the yard.

Nurseries and garden catalogs are full of fabulous full-color photos of blossoming trees and perennials in all their florid glory. But native plants deserve a long and careful look and a place in every home garden. Their flowers may be more subtle, their growing habits sometimes less striking than cultivated specimens. But native trees and shrubs, flowers, ferns and grasses have their own unique beauty and are more likely to thrive than often temperamental species grown for their looks alone.

Consider that native plants are better suited to grow here in the Pocono soils. They'll require less fertilizer and other special treatment because they've evolved to thrive on what's naturally available.

Native plants also won't become invasive, as some introduced species have. Japanese barberry, for example, is colorful but has taken hold far beyond the home gardens where it originally grew as an ornamental and has become an aggressive and hostile species in the wild. Likewise the ubiquitous Japanese knotweed, which even hungry beavers can't control as it insidiously edges out native species on the banks of local waterways.

Native trees, shrubs and other plants are better suited to provide shelter and sustenance for the wildlife that so many Pocono residents welcome into their backyards. Bees and butterflies gravitate toward plants that they are accustomed to using for nectar, for example.

The Brodhead Watershed Association is making it easy to find an interesting variety of native plants for the home garden. The BWA will hold its third annual native plant sale on May 15. BWA had such high demand for native species last year that the organization has doubled its orders and is working with the Monroe County Conservation District in Bartonsville, where the sale will be held, to offer family-friendly programs on the day of the sale.

You can get a complete list of the BWA's native plant offerings now by calling 570-839-1120. Look over the list and see what would might complement your yard. And rest assured that your home landscaping will be easily maintained, attractive and inviting.